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The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
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Status Anxiety
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 285
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 172
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Story4 out of 5 stars 171
This is a book about an almost universal anxiety that is rarely mentioned: an anxiety about what others think of us, about whether we're judged a success or a failure, a winner or a loser. This is a book about status anxiety. Best-selling author Alain de Botton asks, with lucidity and charm, where our worries about status come from and what, if anything, we can do to surmount them.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A book about one of society's worst diseases
- By Jesse on 02-02-10
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The Course of Love
- A Novel
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Julian Rhind-Tutt
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 812
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 719
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 713
We all know the headiness and excitement of the early days of love. But what comes after? In Edinburgh a couple, Rabih and Kirsten, fall in love. They get married, they have children—but no long-term relationship is as simple as "happily ever after". The Course of Love is a novel that explores what happens after the birth of love, what it takes to maintain love, and what happens to our original ideals under the pressures of an average existence.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing, much needed retooling of the expectations and realities of Love
- By Lydia on 07-04-16
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The Consolations of Philosophy
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 503
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 350
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 348
Alain de Botton has performed a stunning feat: He has transformed arcane philosophy into something accessible and entertaining, useful and kind. Drawing on the work of six of the world's most brilliant thinkers, de Botton has arranged a panoply of wisdom to guide us through our most common problems.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Cheering, empathic, helpful
- By Austin on 11-11-09
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Essays in Love
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: James Wilby
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 203
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 178
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 179
Essays in Love is a stunningly original love story. Taking in Aristotle, Wittgenstein, history, religion and Groucho Marx, Alain de Botton charts the progress of a love affair from the first kiss to argument and reconciliation, from intimacy and tenderness to the onset of anxiety and heartbreak.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Every relationship you've ever analyzed
- By Maria L. Lantin on 05-07-12
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Religion for Atheists
- A Non-Believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Kris Dyer
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 234
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 202
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Story4 out of 5 stars 198
The boring debate between fundamentalist believers and non-believers is finally moved on by Alain de Botton's inspiring new book, which boldly argues that the supernatural claims of religion are of course entirely false - and yet that religions still have important things to teach the secular world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A valuable resource for believers
- By John W. B. on 10-05-13
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The Architecture of Happiness
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 4 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 203
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 153
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Story4 out of 5 stars 155
One of the great, but often unmentioned, causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kinds of chairs, walls, buildings, and streets that surround us. And yet, a concern for architecture is too often described as frivolous, even self-indulgent. Alain de Botton starts from the idea that where we are heavily influences who we can be, and argues that it is architecture's task to stand as an eloquent reminder of our full potential.
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5 out of 5 stars
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LOVED it!
- By JJ HUNSECKER on 12-23-16
-
Status Anxiety
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 285
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 172
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 171
This is a book about an almost universal anxiety that is rarely mentioned: an anxiety about what others think of us, about whether we're judged a success or a failure, a winner or a loser. This is a book about status anxiety. Best-selling author Alain de Botton asks, with lucidity and charm, where our worries about status come from and what, if anything, we can do to surmount them.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A book about one of society's worst diseases
- By Jesse on 02-02-10
-
The Course of Love
- A Novel
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Julian Rhind-Tutt
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 812
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 719
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 713
We all know the headiness and excitement of the early days of love. But what comes after? In Edinburgh a couple, Rabih and Kirsten, fall in love. They get married, they have children—but no long-term relationship is as simple as "happily ever after". The Course of Love is a novel that explores what happens after the birth of love, what it takes to maintain love, and what happens to our original ideals under the pressures of an average existence.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing, much needed retooling of the expectations and realities of Love
- By Lydia on 07-04-16
-
The Consolations of Philosophy
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 503
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 350
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 348
Alain de Botton has performed a stunning feat: He has transformed arcane philosophy into something accessible and entertaining, useful and kind. Drawing on the work of six of the world's most brilliant thinkers, de Botton has arranged a panoply of wisdom to guide us through our most common problems.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Cheering, empathic, helpful
- By Austin on 11-11-09
-
Essays in Love
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: James Wilby
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 203
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 178
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 179
Essays in Love is a stunningly original love story. Taking in Aristotle, Wittgenstein, history, religion and Groucho Marx, Alain de Botton charts the progress of a love affair from the first kiss to argument and reconciliation, from intimacy and tenderness to the onset of anxiety and heartbreak.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Every relationship you've ever analyzed
- By Maria L. Lantin on 05-07-12
-
Religion for Atheists
- A Non-Believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Kris Dyer
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 234
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 202
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 198
The boring debate between fundamentalist believers and non-believers is finally moved on by Alain de Botton's inspiring new book, which boldly argues that the supernatural claims of religion are of course entirely false - and yet that religions still have important things to teach the secular world.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A valuable resource for believers
- By John W. B. on 10-05-13
-
The Architecture of Happiness
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 4 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 203
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 153
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 155
One of the great, but often unmentioned, causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kinds of chairs, walls, buildings, and streets that surround us. And yet, a concern for architecture is too often described as frivolous, even self-indulgent. Alain de Botton starts from the idea that where we are heavily influences who we can be, and argues that it is architecture's task to stand as an eloquent reminder of our full potential.
-
5 out of 5 stars
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LOVED it!
- By JJ HUNSECKER on 12-23-16
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The News
- A User's Manual
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Nicholas Bell
- Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 64
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4 out of 5 stars 57
The news is everywhere. We can’t stop constantly checking it on our computer screens, but what is this doing to our minds? We are never really taught how to make sense of the torrent of news we face every day, writes Alain de Botton (author of the best-selling The Architecture of Happiness), but this has a huge impact on our sense of what matters and of how we should lead our lives.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The News and a Treatise on Life
- By L. Hartness on 05-01-14
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The Art of Travel
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Nicholas Bell
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 113
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 98
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Story4 out of 5 stars 98
Aside from love, few actvities seem to promise us as much happiness as going traveling: taking off for somewhere else, somewhere far from home, a place with more interesting weather, customs, and landscapes. But although we are inundated with advice on where to travel, few people seem to talk about why we should go and how we can become more fulfilled by doing so.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Hard to read
- By quiltbrain on 12-10-17
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How Proust Can Change Your Life
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Nicholas Bell
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 357
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 302
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Story4 out of 5 stars 301
For anyone who ever wondered what Marcel Proust had in mind when he wrote the one-and-a-quarter-million words of In Search of Lost Time (while bedridden no less), Alain de Botton has the answer. For, in this stylish, erudite and frequently hilarious book, de Botton dips deeply into Proust’s life and work - his fiction, letter, and conversations – and distils from them that rare self-help manual: one that is actually helpful.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Good book, well read, with just one remark
- By Marie-Claude on 08-17-12
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Fleishman Is in Trouble
- A Novel
- By: Taffy Brodesser-Akner
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 524
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 473
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Story4 out of 5 stars 476
Toby Fleishman thought he knew what to expect when he and his wife of almost 15 years separated: weekends and every other holiday with the kids, some residual bitterness, the occasional moment of tension in their co-parenting negotiations. He could not have predicted that one day, in the middle of his summer of sexual emancipation, Rachel would just drop their two children off at his place and simply not return. He had been working so hard to find equilibrium in his single life. The winds of his optimism, long dormant, had finally begun to pick up. Now this.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Tedious
- By patty15 in OC on 06-26-19
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Marry Him
- The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough
- By: Lori Gottlieb
- Narrated by: Mia Barron
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 411
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 329
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 331
You have a fulfilling job, a great group of friends, the perfect apartment, and no shortage of dates. So what if you haven’t found The One just yet? Surely he’ll come along, right? But what if he doesn’t? Or even worse, what if he already has, but you just didn’t realize it? Lori Gottlieb said the unthinkable in her March 2008 article in The Atlantic: Maybe she, and single women everywhere, needed to stop chasing Prince Charming and instead go for Mr. Good Enough.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Reality at its best!
- By Talita on 02-11-16
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The Impossible Climb
- Alex Honnold, El Capitan, and the Climbing Life
- By: Mark Synnott
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 231
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 211
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 211
The Impossible Climb is an emotional drama driven by people exploring the limits of human potential and seeking a perfect, choreographed dance with nature. Honnold dared far beyond the ordinary, beyond any climber in history. But this story of sublime heights is really about all of us. Who doesn’t need to face fear down fear and make the most of the time we have?
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2 out of 5 stars
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Missed opportunity...
- By Amazon Customer on 03-26-19
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Living an Examined Life
- By: James Hollis PhD
- Narrated by: Kevin M. Connolly
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 57
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
How do you define “growing up?” Does it mean you achieve certain cultural benchmarks - a steady income, paying taxes, marriage, and children? Or does it mean leaving behind the expectations of others and growing into the person you were meant to be? Here acclaimed author James Hollis guides you through 21 areas for self-inquiry and growth - such as how to exorcise the ghosts of your past, when to choose meaning over happiness, how to construct a mature spirituality, and how to seize permission to be who you really are.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Extraordinary compilation of Dr. Hollis' works
- By Joseph on 02-17-18
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Daily Rituals
- How Artists Work
- By: Mason Currey
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,376
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,163
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,168
Kafka is one of 161 inspired-and inspiring-minds, among them, novelists, poets, playwrights, painters, philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians, who describe how they subtly maneuver the many (self-inflicted) obstacles and (self-imposed) daily rituals to get done the work they love to do, whether by waking early or staying up late; whether by self-medicating with doughnuts or bathing, drinking vast quantities of coffee, or taking long daily walks.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Nothing else like this one
- By Debra B on 10-23-14
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Alone Time
- Four Seasons, Four Cities, and the Pleasures of Solitude
- By: Stephanie Rosenbloom
- Narrated by: Stephanie Rosenbloom
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 67
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 67
In our increasingly frantic daily lives, many people are genuinely fearful of the prospect of solitude, but time alone can be both rich and restorative, especially when travelling. Through on-the-ground reporting and recounting the experiences of artists, writers, and innovators who cherished solitude, Stephanie Rosenbloom considers how being alone as a traveler - and even in one's own city - is conducive to becoming acutely aware of the sensual details of the world - patterns, textures, colors, tastes, sounds - in ways that are difficult to do in the company of others.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Good story
- By sydney on 01-02-19
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The Artist's Journey
- The Wake of the Hero's Journey and the Lifelong Pursuit of Meaning
- By: Steven Pressfield
- Narrated by: Steven Pressfield
- Length: 2 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 469
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 429
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 424
On our artist's journey, we move past resistance and past self-sabotage. We discover our true selves and our authentic calling, and we produce the works we were born to create. You are an artist too - whether you realize it or not, whether you like it or not - and you have an artist's journey. Will you live it out? Will you follow your muse and do the work you were born to do?
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5 out of 5 stars
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It will give you strength
- By Amazon Customer on 07-30-18
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Comfortable with Uncertainty
- 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion
- By: Pema Chödrön
- Narrated by: Joanna Rotte
- Length: 3 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 126
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 110
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Story5 out of 5 stars 104
This audiobook by Pema Chödrön, the renowned American Buddhist nun, offers short, stand-alone sections designed to help us cultivate compassion and awareness amid the challenges of daily living. More than a collection of thoughts for the day, Comfortable with Uncertainty offers a progressive program of spiritual study, leading the listener through essential concepts, themes, and practices on the Buddhist path.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Life-changing content.
- By Amber Williams on 03-01-18
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In Search of Lost Time (Dramatized)
- By: Marcel Proust
- Narrated by: James Wilby, Jonathan Firth, Harriet Walter, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 371
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 331
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 331
Featuring a fictional version of himself - 'Marcel' - and a host of friends, acquaintances, and lovers, In Search of Lost Time is Proust's search for the key to the mysteries of memory, time, and consciousness. As he recalls his childhood days, the sad affair of Charles Swann and Odette de Crecy, his transition to manhood, the tortures of love and the ravages of war, he realises that the simplest of discoveries can lead to astonishing possibilities.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Proust Snapshot
- By Wendy on 05-06-14
Publisher's Summary
We spend most of our waking lives at work - in occupations often chosen by our unthinking 16-year-old selves. And yet we rarely ask ourselves how we got there or what it might mean for us. Equally intrigued by work's pleasures and its pains, Alain de Botton heads into the office, the factory, the fishing fleet, and the logistics centre, ears and eyes open to the beauty, interest, and sheer strangeness of the modern workplace. Why do we do it? What makes it pleasurable? What is its meaning? And why do we daily exhaust not only ourselves but also the planet?
Characteristically lucid, witty, and inventive, Alain de Botton's 'song for occupations' is a celebration and exploration of an aspect of life which is all too often ignored and yet as central to us as our love lives.
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- Maria
- 01-22-17
This book is a poem
It's lyrical more than anything else. It puts me in the correct mood for most purposes. I like Alain's unsentimental love of life. He seems to have finally got the thing about the 'human thing' (I say finally because in all his books he sounds like he hadn't outright; some people are born with this talent others not)
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Gerda van Wyk
- 12-02-18
Interesting, but not his best
Not as good as his other books. Would have preferred the narrator to be British. Some pearls of wisdom. I preferred The Architecture of Happiness, How Proust can change your Life and Status Anxiety.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- MR
- 07-11-13
good subject matter loses it's way!!
When I began reading this book I was a little bit dazzled and thought, WOW!, this is going to be fascinating.
Unfortunately, the book just seemed to sag in the middle and by the time I reached the end I was fairly underwhelmed.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful